It was an amazing day at Bishopscourt yesterday as Columba College held its annual Cross Country and inaugrual House Festival.

Students across Years 4 -13 made the most of the warm, sunny conditions and, dressed in their vibrant house colours, competed in exciting rivalry against their peers.

After the past couple of of years where students ran in sub-zero conditions, the sun finally came out for the 2022 Columba Cross Country, making for a fabulous day of friendly house competition. The Junior School arrived amped about the challenge ahead, and quickly got into the spirit, proudly displaying their house colours and uniting as teams behind their house flags. The Year 4 girl and boy races got away first with wonderful sideline support from parents, teachers, and classmates. The Year 5 and 6 races were next, followed by an awesome prizegiving to celebrate our students for the achievement of just completing the race. We acknowledged our winners and runners-up with a few spot prizes and everyone enjoyed a number of lollies courtesy of our house leaders.

Around 11.00 am, a colourful sea of senior school students arrived en masse at Bishopscourt, loudly singing their house chants and trying their best to stir up aninter-house competitive vibe. Many great races took place with a number of students tackling the 2.5km challenge, all full of smiles throughout.

We are extremely proud of all our students who participated yesterday, clearly giving all they could out on the field. In particular, we would like to extend a big congratulations to the following students who achieved top three placings in their age group races:

Year 4 Girls:

1st = Emerson Hawken; 2nd = Gabrielle van Aart; 3rd = Charlotte Hussey 

Year 4 Boys:

1st = Jett Cook; 2nd = Liam Mao; 3rd = Dylan Wang

Year 5 Girls:

1st = Abrielle Nicol; 2nd = Matilda Brown; 3rd = Méabh Russell

Year 5 Boys:

1st = Samuel Riley; 2nd = Henry Pratley; 3rd = Oliver Crayford

Year 6 Girls:

1st = Poppy Hussey; 2nd = Ruby Tilyard; 3rd = Lara Lowe

Year 6 Boys:

1st = Ethan Zhou; 2nd = Max Smith; 3rd = William Henderson

Year 7 Girls:

1st = Anna Riley; 2nd = Madison Bryce; 3rd = Isabella van Aart

Year 8 Girls:

1st = Harlow La Hood; 2nd = Charlee Smith; 3rd = Mae Daggar

Year 9 Girls:

1st =Shanti Kara; 2nd = Abigail Kotkamp; 3rd = Hannah Paul

Year 10 Girls:

1st = Lila Rhodes; 2nd = Maddie Taylor; 3rd = Melanie Button

Year 11 Girls:

1st = Anya Rhodes; 2nd = Bianca Van der Haegen ; 3rd = Zara Pratley

Year 12 Girls:

1st = Faith Courtney; 2nd = Laura Sammut; 3rd = Millie Scott

Year 13 Girls:

1st = Jaime Reid; 2nd = Anika Itadani; 3rd = Tessa Milton

The overall winner for house points in our Cross Country was:
1st GIRTON -1,980
2nd BRAEMAR - 1,650
3rd IONA - 1,439
4th SOLWAY - 1,432

Come lunch break, we where we were joined by our entire Junior School to welcome the full school down to Bishopscourt. The Rowing Club kicked off the afternoon with a sausage sizzle fundraiser and we had the pleasure of hosting three food trucks - which proved to be immensely popular. It was time to begin our House Festival and what better way to start this than with everyone's favourite: Jump Jam!!

Completing both The Coconut Song and Keep on Movin', we progressed into our six 10-minute activity stations, mixing the year levels to form groups competing against other houses. For the wheelbarrow, egg and spoon, chariot, 3-legged, sack races and tug of war, groups were paired up (Year 12+1, Year 11+2, Year 10+3, Year 9+4, Year 8+5 and Year 7+6) creating strong camaraderie throughout the full school.

It was time to split the groups and play one final game. Our Middle and Senior School Students were introduced to a new game called 'Colour Tag' while our Junior School took part in the ever-popular game of 'Rob the Nest' and finished with some relay fun before returning to school.

The overall winner for house points in our House Festival was:

1st GIRTON -1,982
2nd SOLWAY - 1,589
3rd BRAEMAR - 1,542
4th IONA - 1,186

Last on the agenda was the highly anticipated Staff vs Students relay race. Six participants in each team completed a 100m dash, handing the baton to each other in the hopes of beating the rest. Our team of Prefects were crowned the champions and everyone had plenty of laughs to conclude the event. 

Our 'spirit stick' award winner and 'best-dressed' recipients will be named in assembly next week for Years 7-13.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in our fantastic full-school extravaganza! Thank you to all the teaching and support staff for your assistance in helping to make the day run smoothly. A big thank you again to the parents and friends of Columba who came out to support all of our runners from the sideline. Your attendance and encouragement shown to every student out on the running track did not go unnoticed! What a great day. We are looking forward to next year's cross country already! 

A big thanks to Miss Caitlin Blacker for being such an awesome student photographer for the day!